Trending News: Think All You Need Is 10,000 Hours To Master That Musical Instrument? Think Again.

Why Is This Important?

Long Story Short

Think 10,000 hours is what it takes to a master any skill? According to a recent study, there’s more to it than that.

Long Story

Malcolm Gladwell popularised the 10,000 hours rule in his book The Outliers, stating that by practicing for 10,000 hours anyone can develop a skill to the point of mastery. Well, too bad if you're closing in on hour 10,000, because a new study has provided some convincing evidence that indicates otherwise.

The study, conducted between five universities, looked specifically at chess players (1083 subjects) and musicians (628 subjects) to see what connections were found between their amount of practice and their success. The findings have suggested that practice can only account for one third of a person’s success.

The scientists are quick to point out though that practicing should not be disregarded. However, the study does suggest that there is more to success than the application of repeat practice for a set amount of time, stating that factors such as intelligence, coaching or socioeconomic factors play a large part.

“The evidence is quite clear that some people do reach an elite level of performance without copious practice, while other people fail to do so despite copious practice," the researchers said. In looking at the sample data sets, they found the range of hours practiced by chess grandmasters was from 832 to 24,284 hours of work, whereas musicians' efforts ranged from 10,000 to 30,000. The amount of time practiced contributed to just 30% and 34% of the subjects’ level of success respectively.

The study has drawn criticism from K. Anders Ericsson, the author of the study made famous by Gladwell, who says that the data represented too many beginners rather than experts. Ericsson also argues his point has been misrepresented by Gladwell as the 10,000 hour rule was meant to be interpreted as an average.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: Does this mean all the hours I've put into mastering the keytar have all been for naught?

Disrupt Your Feed: This whole debate is ridiculous. Of course anyone's ability to do anything is a combination of practice and genetics.

Drop This Fact: If you want to hold onto the 10,000 hours rule then here are some numbers to consider: If you practiced for 40 hours a week, it would take you 5 years to hit that magic number.